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Louisiana flooding forces four-star Josh Anderson out of home

Josh Anderson (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

Like so many others in Southern Louisiana, Josh Anderson had some warning that floods were coming. However, the four-star guard had no idea the devastation heading toward his community.

“I was talking to my friends and they were telling me that they had water in their neighborhood," said Anderson, a 6-foot-4 senior at Baton Rouge (La.) Madison Prep. "I remember walking outside and seeing the water outside, and my mom told me to go inside and start packing all I could. Within five or 10 minutes, I looked outside and the water was already up to the curb and it just kept coming."

Anderson considers himself fortunate. His family's home wasn't completely destroyed, although they face a rough road ahead.

“When it first happened we were kind of shocked," Anderson said. "We are getting used to it right now. My mom has lost most of her clothes and shoes and stuff like that. I packed some of my clothes and shoes and stuff, so I didn't lose everything.

“Mainly we lost three vehicles. They said the water was up to 4 1/2 feet in the house so we have to take out the walls, carpet and most of the doors and stuff, and fix all of that."

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Invited to play in Under Armour's Elite 24 last Saturday night, Anderson had to decide whether to stay home to help clean up or play in the nationally televised game. He opted to play in the Brooklyn, N.Y. event.

“I knew that it was something that I had to do to get my name out there more," he said. "My mom was telling me that we needed that vacation to get our mind off of everything at home.”

Since making his way back to Baton Rouge – where he's staying with relatives – Anderson's focus has been placed entirely on helping his family repair their home.

“To be honest, right now my mind isn’t really on basketball," Anderson said. "I haven't even been in the gym since we got back from New York. I’m just focusing on fixing the house and getting everything together with that. I’m working on a better home situation.”

Though he has plenty on his mind and hasn't yet been able to think about official or home visits, Anderson says that he would still like to make an early decision. School will be starting again soon and he thinks that is an appropriate time to start thinking about his recruitment.

“When we start going back to school again I’ll start thinking about recruiting again," he said. "We start back on Sept. 6 because everything has been pushed back. They had water in the school but it’s all dried up and they are working on walls and stuff now.”

At this point, Anderson says that hometown LSU, Western Kentucky, N.C. State and Baylor are standing out to him.

“I’m definitely going to take visits to N.C. State, Western Kentucky and Baylor," Anderson said. "I go to LSU a lot already. What I'm looking for has stayed pretty much the same. I just want to go somewhere that I can excel and succeed and get better so that I can hopefully make it to the NBA.”

More than anything else, Anderson has tried to find the positive in the tragedy that he, his family and the people of Louisiana have endured.

“It doesn’t really make me mad," Anderson said. "It’s disappointing to have lost some things. It humbles you in a way. One minute you have all of this stuff and the next minute it’s all gone so it definitely humbles you. It makes you appreciative of what you have.”

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